Standarizing race names

[NaBUru38]

Randy Bernard wants to change the Indy car racing sanctioning body's name (I'm for Indy Racing Group or IndyCar Racing Group). But what about the race names? This season we have (I'll drop the presenting sponsors):

o- São Paulo Indy 300 (São Paulo)
o- Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
o- Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham)
o- Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
o- RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 (Kansas Speedway)
o- Indianapolis 500
o- Firestone 550 (Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth)
o- Iowa Corn Indy 250 (Newton)
o- Camping World Watkins Glen
o- Honda Indy Toronto
o- Honda Indy Edmonton
o- Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington)
o- Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County (Infineon Raceway at Sears Point, Sonoma)
o- Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 (Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet)
o- Meijer Indy 300 (Kentucky Speedway, Sparta)
o- Indy Japan 300 (Twin Ring Motegi)
o- Firestone Indy 300 (Homestead-Miami Speedway)

11 out of 17 describe the place where the race is held (12 if we include Iowa Corn Indy 250). The rest are the five races held at 1.5-mile ovals, which suck(s). My proposals:

o- RoadRunner Turbo Kansas Indy 300, as in 2003 (btw, RoadRunner Turbo is one of the best names a non-automotive sponsor could give a car race)
o- Firestone Texas 550, or even better, Firestone Lone Star 550
o- Peak Antifreeze Chicago Indy 300 (and Peak Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma - it is much hotter and its race name is ridiculously long now)
o- Meijer Kentucky Indy 300
o- Firestone Miami Indy 300, or even better, Firestone Sunshine Indy 300

11 races have the tag Indy (12 if the 500 counts). Four non-oval races are called Grands Prix and I like that. The São Paulo race needed to stand out of the F1 Grand Prix, that's why it got the Indy tag instead (the Brazilian press has been calling the series "Formula Indy" for decades). I prefer Honda Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio over the current name Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio.

But as I suggested with the Lone Star and the Sunshine, it would be cool if races had special names. Atlanta Classic 500 (I'd love an Indy car race called Classic), Richmond Indy Challenge, Double Down in the Desert come to my... search results :P Even Nascar used to have interesting designations (Firecracker 400, Motor State 400, Dixie 500, Old Dominion 500, Capital City 400, Rebel 500) and today they still have cool names (Brickyard 400, Labor Day Classic 500, One Last Race to Make the Chase). How about a Sweepstakes or a Nationals?

[NaBUru38]

I'll up the thread with the possible future races:
o- Charlotte Indy 300
o- Milwaukee Indy 225
o- New England Indy 200 (New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon)
o- Nashville Indy 200
o- Baltimore Grand Prix is the working name, but Charm City Grand Prix would be much better
o- Las Vegas 500 (km, of course)
o- Grand Prix of Houston, or Lone Star Grand Prix as the old ALMS race.

[Lousada]

I think "Indy" is a better name than Grand Prix. It's more descriptive. Distance designations should always be in miles.

I do agree with you that the races should have more imaginative names. Some of the examples you came up with are pretty good. It would make them stand out more as a single event and also opposed to other series. I don't think anybody will be happy to tell their friends they go to the "Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County".

[NaBUru38]

Indy car racing has had several Grands Prix before the split: Cleveland, Detroit, Long Beach, Miami, Monterey... And they can use both ("Indy Grand Prix"), as in Alabama, Detroit and Sonoma.

Road/street races last 180 to 220 miles. That's too low a number compared with Nascar Cup's 400-600, and Americans care about numbers in race names.

[mr_swiss]

If I'm saying "I'm going to the Grand Prix", People around SoCal know I'm going to the race in Long Beach. If it's changed to Toyota Indy Long Beach, I'm sure I'm getting blank stares.
I personally like "Grand Prix" much better than "Indy".
Honda Grand Prix of Toronto sounds much better than Honda Indy Toronto, IMO.